Foil at 165 or not

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meowey

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Jul 16, 2006
3,270
63
Northern NY (Adirondacks)
Folks,

I have looked through the pork forum here. How many of you foil your butts at 165? How many do not? I have done butts 3 times without foiling until I pull them from the smoker to rest. Several responses to my previous posts hint that I should have foiled sooner to save the "juice". I have found that the butts pull easily after resting in foil. The bone literally pulls out clean. The meat is tender and moist. There is little "juice" in the foil pack.

Will I have more "juice" if I double wrap in HD foil at 165, and then cook to 195, followed by a rest in the cooler? Will the "bark" be as good?

Regards,

Mewoey
 
Meowy,
I did a butt yesterday and foiled @ 165 and smoked to 195 and then wrapped in towels and put in in a cooler for 1hr.
Last time I did not cooler it and it was excellent. This time was even better! Twice as much juice in the foil :D I then put SouthflaQuers finishing sauce in an d it was awsome
wink.gif
I'm on my way out the door, but I think the finishing sauce is under the pork section of the forum. good luck 8)
 
I have always foiled at 165, but by then I always have great bark going on already, I think anymore would be not nearly as good. Anyway that's my two cents.
 
Foil it! I did mine Friday night and then, foiled it at 160°, then took it up to 200°, then wrapped it in towels and stuck it a cooler for like 9 hours! It was still 150° and had tons of juice! (see my thread…Lip Smacking Good), and you could chew it with your lips (literally)! Give it some time, man itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s worth it! Yeaaah!

p.s. How about that finishing sauce! Nice touch, donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t ya think?
 
I did two pork butts on sunday, foiled both of them at 165, then finished them in the oven at 250. Purists may scoff, but it saves a bunch of charcoal and wood.
 
I believe in using all the tools in your box! Foil is great for helping to control flavor, color, moisture, and mess. Here are a couple pics from my cook last weekend, and you can see both my butts and brisket foiled under the ribs.
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Personally, I foil, but I also think foil is a tool (like Noah and others) and not a "crutch" as the purist might contend.

Some people never foil, some people always do.

Its about taste and texture.

You want fall of the bone butter meat the kids will enjoy, foil.

You want to preserve a little "bite" to the meat, but also have dryness issues, foil, but later in the cook or no time in cooler.

You want maximum bark formation, and a little crispness to the burnt ends on a brisket, wait till 180 to foil.

Its a tool, no wrong way to use it. Just adapt for what your looking for
 
Thanks All,

I'm going to do butts on Friday. I will foil at 165F. My previous butts were tasty even if I did not foil. This will be a good comparison. I also plan to try soflaquer's finishing sauce on some of the pork.

Do good!

Regards,

Meowey
 
I didnt mean it that way.

But now that I look back and see you competeing in all white, yeah,, tool kinda fits. :)
 
It is only white on the back. It was too hot for an apron, and the front kinda looked like one of those contemporary paintings! Nothing like heavy rain and Q sauce to spread a little color...
 
I have never done a Pork Butt and not foiled. I would think if you get tasty, tender, juicy meat with a smokey flavor. When you put a platter of meat on the table and go back into the kitchen to grab a cold one, only to come back to the table and the platter is EMPTY !!!! If you have no idea of what BBQ leftovers are.....

You are doing it right, and should not change a thing.
 
Thanks for the replies. Today I did two pork butts. (Sorry no pics) I did foil them at 165F. Cooked them up to 205F. Wrapped in towels and rested them in the cooler. One butt finished two hours before the other and it stayed in the cooler for over three hours before we were ready to eat. It was still at 165F when I unwrapped and pulled. It had a lot of "juice" in the packet that I put in the pan with the pork. I also used soflaquer's finishing sauce. We had guests and one thought while he was eating that he was down south. Dutch's "Wicked Beans" were also featured and much complimented.

I'm now a firm believer in foiling pork butts!

Again thanks to all.

Regards,

Meowey
 
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